My dream is to see Indian athlete win Olympic gold: Milkha Singh

Solan (Himachal Pradesh), Sep 10 (IANS) Legendary athlete Milkha Singh said on Monday that it was his dream to see an Indian athlete win a gold medal at the Olympic Games.

“It’s my dream to see an Indian athlete win a gold medal at the Olympics that I lost in Rome,” he said during an interaction with the students of Shoolini University near here.

The living legend, also known by his nickname ‘Flying Sikh’, got emotional on watching a clip from his biopic ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, recalling all the struggles of his life.

Milkha Singh shared his life story recalling his childhood struggles as well as shared his experience in the famous sporting event held at Pakistan in 1960 where he defeated his Pakistani contemporary Abdul Khaliq.

“No matter who becomes our Prime Minister, no one can completely eradicate poverty from the country. We as citizens need to contribute and do our bit in eradication of poverty and development of the nation,” he said.

He encouraged the students to work hard and emphasized that hard work is even more important than competence. He said that youth is the future of the nation and they must work hard to bring glory to the nation.

Milkha Singh also inaugurated an indoor sports complex that will be named after him as the Milkha Singh Sports Complex. He was welcomed by Prof. P.K. Khosla, Vice Chancellor of Shoolini University and Atul Khosla, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Founder of the university.